FC Barcelona got away with it at St James Park. It was a game in which nothing was going right and Newcastle United had enjoyed most of the big chances. And they finally broken the Barça defence to take an 85th minute lead through Harvey Barnes.

But there was an unexpected late twist in what hadn't been a very happy tale until then. A penalty with the very last kick of the game earned a 1-1 draw, giving Barça a far healthier scoreline to take into next Wednesday's return leg at Spotify Camp Nou.

Defensively, Barça were superb, reducing the constant Newcastle pressure to half chance after half chance. But up front, things were uncharacteristically flat. It wasn’t the Barça we know and love, but Lamine Yamal’s late penalty changed everything.

A draw in a Champions League away leg is never a bad result, and Barça are now finely poised to sort things out when the home advantage is theirs in eight days’ time.

the game as it happened

Under pressure

The first half bore a certain similarity to the first half between the same sides in the League Phase. Newcastle were massively fired up and were creating chances from the very first minute, with Joan Garcia quickly called upon to start showcasing his talents.

By the break, Barça’s best chance had come when Dan Burn very nearly put the ball in his own net, and a Fermín Lopez shot was the only time that Aaron Ramsdale had any serious work to do in the home nets.

Spurred on by a vociferous Toon Army, the Magpies were dictating the rhythm and beating Barça for pace and energy, with Anthony Elanga in particular causing all kinds of trouble down the Newcastle right wing.

Holding on

Fortunately, the black-and-white shirts weren’t capitalising on their copious breakthroughs, due in no short measure to stupendous blaugrana defending.

In Barça’s own attacking department, things were disturbingly sterile. And while back in September, things finally clicked into shape in the second half, this time they did not.

Newcastle showed no signs of tiring. They continued to threaten far too many times for comfort and on 74 minutes, just after hitting García’s post, they did have the ball in the net. Thankfully, the linesman’s flag was rightly up for offside.

Finally beaten

Other than one chance for Robert Lewandowski, Barça still produced woefully little going forward, and instead were clinging on at the back.

On 85 minutes, they were finally beaten. Jacob Murphy whipped in the cross. Barnes had lost his marker and was able to convert from short range.

Buoyed by the goal, Newcastle pressed for a second. The best thing for Barça was for the game to end there and then. If there was to be any further score, it didn’t look like it would be in their favour.

Last-gasp leveller

Which makes what happened next all the more remarkable. In the sixth minute of injury time, the referee was already set to blow his whistle. And he did. But not for full-time.

A clear foul in the box on Dani Olmo. Lamine Yamal had the chance to save the day from the spot. And that’s exactly what he did.

Far from a vintage performance from Barça, but under the circumstances, a very fine result indeed. Next Wednesday at 9pm, this story continues.

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